{"id":27214,"date":"2023-11-30T15:29:18","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T21:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=27214"},"modified":"2024-01-10T15:26:23","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T21:26:23","slug":"the-oath-judge-donovan-frank-77-and-his-naturalization-house-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2023\/11\/30\/the-oath-judge-donovan-frank-77-and-his-naturalization-house-calls\/","title":{"rendered":"The Oath: Judge Donovan Frank ’77 and his naturalization house calls"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Judge Donovan Frank with Zhengfang Liu, shortly after she was sworn in as an American citizen (provided photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

Zhengfang Liu lived in the United States for 20 years before becoming a citizen last year. But because of the 82-year old\u2019s declining health, including four hospitalizations and a cardiac arrest in the past year, Liu couldn\u2019t attend a naturalization ceremony in person.<\/p>\n

So the ceremony went to her, in the person of U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank \u201977.<\/p>\n

Frank, who is also a Mitchell Hamline trustee, packed his judge\u2019s robe and necessary paperwork and drove to Liu\u2019s home in Rochester, Minn. With family gathered around, Frank administered the Oath of Allegiance in the living room.<\/p>\n

Liu\u2019s son, Hao Wang, said it was his mom\u2019s dream to become an American. \u201cShe is very proud of it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe greatly appreciate Judge Frank!\u201d<\/p>\n

In most cases, new Americans take their oaths in groups at large venues, where an atmosphere of joy permeates as families snap photos and shed tears of happiness for their loved ones. But some people are physically unable to attend or can\u2019t wait until the next ceremony. A military member with imminent orders. A pregnant woman hospitalized with a heart condition. Or, in most cases, someone who is terminally ill.<\/p>\n

\"Mitchell<\/a>

This article first appeared in the Summer 2023 issue of Mitchell Hamline Law magazine.<\/p><\/div>\n

About a year after becoming a federal judge in 1998, Frank became liaison for emergency proceedings in the District of Minnesota.<\/p>\n

When U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services learns of an applicant who needs an emergency or homebound ceremony, they contact Frank\u2019s office to arrange a time. Frank has administered the oath at bedsides, in hospital rooms, and even in his chambers. Fellow judges enthusiastically step in when he\u2019s unavailable.<\/p>\n

Now aged 72 and a senior judge, Frank enjoys the role too much to give it up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t capture for you what it means for the families, the new American, and for me to be in those situations,\u201d said Frank. \u201cMany times, I\u2019m there because the person is close to death, and it\u2019s their last wish to die an American.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the truest privileges of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also rare. Of the thousands of people who become citizens each year, Frank estimates he\u2019s performed fewer than 50 homebound ceremonies in 25 years on the bench.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Judge Donovan Frank, in his chambers in St. Paul<\/p><\/div>\n

Looking out on the Mississippi River from his chambers in the Warren Burger Federal Courthouse in St. Paul, Frank points to the spot in the room where a soldier born in Somalia became an American so he could deploy to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Frank asked the soldier why he\u2019d fight for a country where some people think he should just go back to Somalia. \u201cThis country saved my life,\u201d Frank recalled the soldier saying. \u201cThis is my way of saying thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amidst a bevy of photographs throughout his chambers are several from these ceremonies, which Frank says are some of the truest moments of him living his oath as a judge\u2014to administer justice without respect to persons and do equal right to the poor and to the rich.<\/p>\n

Once the oath is done, by law that person is an American\u2014regardless of how long it takes to process the paperwork. That\u2019s the moment when Frank says the same thing at every ceremony:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States of America is now a better country than it was a few moments ago before you became a citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zhengfang Liu lived in the United States for 20 years before becoming a citizen last year. But because of the 82-year old\u2019s declining health, including four hospitalizations and a cardiac arrest in the past year, Liu couldn\u2019t attend a naturalization ceremony in person. So the ceremony went to her, in the person of U.S. District … <\/p>\n

The Oath: Judge Donovan Frank ’77 and his naturalization house calls<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5668,"featured_media":27218,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,3,5,77],"tags":[672,671,669,668,673,389,674,670],"class_list":{"0":"post-27214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alumni","8":"category-features","9":"category-news","10":"category-office-of-diversity-equity-and-inclusion","11":"tag-american","12":"tag-citizen","13":"tag-citizenship","14":"tag-donovan-frank","15":"tag-federal-judge","16":"tag-judge","17":"tag-naturalization","18":"tag-oath","19":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5668"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}